X-Men: Necessary Evil
Title: Necessary Evil
Fandom: X-Men: The Movie
Characters/Pairings: Pyro, Iceman, Magneto, Northstar, others.
Rating: PG
Genre: AU
Word Count: Hell if I know.
Notes: I had fun writing this! AU all the way. What would happen if Magneto had succeeded in killing all the humans on earth? Set after X-2.
"--It was a necessary evil," Magneto says into the camera, and John, filming, swallows the bile in his throat.
"You have all lost friends, family, lovers. But you have been inducted into something infinitely more powerful: a brotherhood. A brotherhood of mutants."
The camera switches off.
--
The tape plays all day, on every channel. Magnus looks grimly satisfied.
"Charles, old friend," John hears him murmur to himself, but cannot hear what comes afterward. It doesn't matter, anyway.
Tomorrow is the memorial.
--
"--the man whose life was sacrificed to deliver us from the human enslavement. An idealist, a mutant, a man. The Xavier Monument."
Mastermind undoes the illusion; the great boulder is unveiled; John lights the torch in front of it with a blink of his eyelid and the snap of his lighter.
None of the X-Men have shown up to the ceremony, and John can't imagine why he thought any of them would.
--
It takes him a year to go back, and by this time, Genosha is a mutant paradise. America is in civil war. Nothing is how he left it.
Kitty opens the door silently, her resentment rolling off her in waves. Then, from behind her, a young man with dark hair and blue eyes steps out and --
"You."
And a fist slams into his jaw.
--
"I'm sorry about Jean-Paul," Dr. McCoy says softly, his huge blue paw dabbing antiseptic more gently than John would've thought possible. "But I must say, you're quite lucky Robert was around to stop him."
"Fast as Pietro," John mumbles back, and McCoy grins. It is not a nice grin.
"Ah. Magneto's son. I heard he was the one who took your place as the Cabinet's prodigy boy."
That -- Well. That stings.
--
"You're not welcome here, John."
St. John doesn't reply. Just keeps unpacking. Ignores the sinking feeling. Socks, jeans, shirts. Two of each. Good. All there.
"This isn't Xavier's house anymore. You left. Go back to your leader."
And then Bobby leaves.
--
Jubilee is the only one who will even look at him, let alone talk.
When he mentions this, she explodes.
"You wonder why, Johnny? Because you killed them. Killed our parents, friends, everyone! Evolution my fucking ass!"
"I didn't kill th -- "
"You went off with the man who did. And don't bother telling me it was the Professor's fault, either. You left with Magneto, John. Just because you left him doesn't mean we forgive you."
--
Two weeks after John arrives, Bobby leaves for Alaska with Colossus and that Jean-Paul guy. They are the ones, it seems, who can stand his presence the least.
John wonders if Bobby can even recognize the looks Jean-Paul gives him.
Wonders if he looks at him the same way.
Not that it matters.
--
John leaves three days after that.
"There's no way they'll join," he tells Magneto over the phone. "Barely looked at me the whole time."
"I see," is the reply. A pause. "Anything else?"
"Yeah," John says. "Yeah."
And he flicks his lighter.
--
"I do believe we've lost the Pyro," Magnus says amusedly. Pietro snorts.
"Youknewthat'dhappendidn'tyou."
"I had my suspicions." Magnus looks out at beautiful Genosha. "Children."
chapters: one | two | three | four | five | six
Fandom: X-Men: The Movie
Characters/Pairings: Pyro, Iceman, Magneto, Northstar, others.
Rating: PG
Genre: AU
Word Count: Hell if I know.
Notes: I had fun writing this! AU all the way. What would happen if Magneto had succeeded in killing all the humans on earth? Set after X-2.
"--It was a necessary evil," Magneto says into the camera, and John, filming, swallows the bile in his throat.
"You have all lost friends, family, lovers. But you have been inducted into something infinitely more powerful: a brotherhood. A brotherhood of mutants."
The camera switches off.
--
The tape plays all day, on every channel. Magnus looks grimly satisfied.
"Charles, old friend," John hears him murmur to himself, but cannot hear what comes afterward. It doesn't matter, anyway.
Tomorrow is the memorial.
--
"--the man whose life was sacrificed to deliver us from the human enslavement. An idealist, a mutant, a man. The Xavier Monument."
Mastermind undoes the illusion; the great boulder is unveiled; John lights the torch in front of it with a blink of his eyelid and the snap of his lighter.
None of the X-Men have shown up to the ceremony, and John can't imagine why he thought any of them would.
--
It takes him a year to go back, and by this time, Genosha is a mutant paradise. America is in civil war. Nothing is how he left it.
Kitty opens the door silently, her resentment rolling off her in waves. Then, from behind her, a young man with dark hair and blue eyes steps out and --
"You."
And a fist slams into his jaw.
--
"I'm sorry about Jean-Paul," Dr. McCoy says softly, his huge blue paw dabbing antiseptic more gently than John would've thought possible. "But I must say, you're quite lucky Robert was around to stop him."
"Fast as Pietro," John mumbles back, and McCoy grins. It is not a nice grin.
"Ah. Magneto's son. I heard he was the one who took your place as the Cabinet's prodigy boy."
That -- Well. That stings.
--
"You're not welcome here, John."
St. John doesn't reply. Just keeps unpacking. Ignores the sinking feeling. Socks, jeans, shirts. Two of each. Good. All there.
"This isn't Xavier's house anymore. You left. Go back to your leader."
And then Bobby leaves.
--
Jubilee is the only one who will even look at him, let alone talk.
When he mentions this, she explodes.
"You wonder why, Johnny? Because you killed them. Killed our parents, friends, everyone! Evolution my fucking ass!"
"I didn't kill th -- "
"You went off with the man who did. And don't bother telling me it was the Professor's fault, either. You left with Magneto, John. Just because you left him doesn't mean we forgive you."
--
Two weeks after John arrives, Bobby leaves for Alaska with Colossus and that Jean-Paul guy. They are the ones, it seems, who can stand his presence the least.
John wonders if Bobby can even recognize the looks Jean-Paul gives him.
Wonders if he looks at him the same way.
Not that it matters.
--
John leaves three days after that.
"There's no way they'll join," he tells Magneto over the phone. "Barely looked at me the whole time."
"I see," is the reply. A pause. "Anything else?"
"Yeah," John says. "Yeah."
And he flicks his lighter.
--
"I do believe we've lost the Pyro," Magnus says amusedly. Pietro snorts.
"Youknewthat'dhappendidn'tyou."
"I had my suspicions." Magnus looks out at beautiful Genosha. "Children."
chapters: one | two | three | four | five | six